POLLEN. 87 



many Springs are so unpropitious, that often during the 

 critical period of blossoming, the sun shines for only a few 

 hours, so that those only can reasonably expect a remu- 

 nerating crop whose trees are all murmuring with the 

 'pleasant hum of bees. 



A large fruit-grower told me that his cherries were a 

 very uncertain crop, a cold north-east storm frequently 

 prevailing when they were in blossom. He had noticed, 

 that if the sim shone only for a couple of hours, the bees 

 secured him a crop. 



If the horticulturists who regard the bee as an enemy, 

 could exterminate the race, they would act with as little 

 wisdom as those who attempt to banish from their inhos- 

 pitable premises every insectiverous bird, which helps 

 itself to a small part of the abundance it has aided in 

 producing. By making judicious efforts early in the 

 Spring, to entrap the mother-wasps and hornets, which 

 alone survive the Winter, an effectual blow may be 

 struck at some of the worst pests of the orchard and gar- 

 den. In Europe, those engaged extensively in the culti- 

 vation of fruit, often pay a small sum in the Spring for all 

 wasps and hornets destroyed in their vicinity. 



Fig. 62 (PI. Xm.), shows the magnified head of a 

 Mexican Honey-Hornet (p. 58). Fig. 63 shows the mag- 

 nified head of the Honey-Bee. Fig. 64 shows the jaws 

 of this Hornet, highly magnified. Fig. 65 shows the 

 jaws of the Honey-Bee, highly magnified. A glance at 

 these figures is enough to convince any intelligent horti- 

 culturist of the truth of Aristotle's remark made more 

 than two thousand years ago that " bees hurt no kinds 

 of fruit, but wasps and hornets are very destructive to 

 them." 



